


Small talk.

by birbteef



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Character Study, Drabble, Friendship, Gen, Probably ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 15:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8406433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birbteef/pseuds/birbteef
Summary: Ratchet starts to have second thoughts about staying on earth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Set between the last episode of TFP and the movie.   
> I was talking to some friends on twitter about what we think Ratchet was doing during that time period and we kind of just came up with "literally nothing" and "being tsundere about the humans"  
> This work is unbeta'd.

After a long day at the hospital there was little June Darby wanted to do besides eat and go to bed. She was tired, her feet hurt, and she didn’t want to deal with anything except a shower.

 

Her new house was great. After the jasper incident where everything sort of just didn’t exist any more, with a little pressure from the Autobots and some very generous paperwork from Agent Fowler, the government was more than happy to get her and her son a new place to stay. They had set her up with a new job easily enough, and with Fowler coming around every so often on a house call, in general, things were looking up. 

 

She pulled her car into the driveway, activating the garage opener. She would have pulled into the garage except to her dismay it appeared it was already occupied by an ambulance.

 

She scowled and got out of her car, leaving it in the driveway instead and walking over to who she correctly assumed was Ratchet. She closed the garage once she was inside and gave him a good look over. He sat perfectly still and didn’t acknowledge her entrance, engine off and lights she had learned to recognize as biosignatures dimmed down as low as they could go.

 

She cleared her throat and got no response. She did it again, rapping her knuckles against the glass of his drivers side window. Immediately a sharp siren screeched through the air at his alarm. June flinched and stepped back. His lights flashed and he jerked backwards, nearly tapping the garage door but thankfully missing it. 

 

The alarms and lights shut off as immediately as they came on, Ratchet took a moment to compose himself and then crept back forwards again to where he had been earlier. “You’re home sooner than I expected.”

 

She let her arms down from where she had wrapped them around her head protectively, “Well that’s something because I didn’t expect you at all.”

 

Ratchet laughed embarrassedly, “I try to leave before you get home.”

 

June set her bag down, cocking her head to the side. She didn’t dislike Ratchet, if anything she felt like they had a lot in common. If something was bothering him she wanted to know about it, possibly to help, emotionally or otherwise. “What are you doing in here?” she asked.

 

Ratchet didn’t respond. June Darby didn’t know before if an ambulance could look sheepish but now she knew they could. “Ratchet. You’re in my house. That’s...not a problem necessarily but I want to know why.”

 

“I was sleeping”

 

She hadn’t expected that. “Sleeping?”

 

“Yes I- augh” he paused to think of his words “The base has been so loud recently. Interplanetary travel and constant check-ins from your government. It’s been...difficult to get uninterrupted sleep.”

 

She nodded slowly, understanding how that could be an issue. “Sleep is...important...why my garage though? I do have to park my car at some point.”

 

“Oh.”

 

She laughed.

 

“It seemed like an obvious place, you know me, I know you, I know there’s not going to be government officials here except maybe Agent Fowler but he’s probably not going to come by unannounced. It’s quiet.” He sounded as though he were leaving something out. 

 

“He does come by on occasion but that’s beside the point.” Though the words were fine, his voice had sounded lonely more than anything. She looked at the ambulance for a moment, trying to identify what parts where what. How do you comfort a car that’s trying to emotionally avoid you? She had been told that the seams were more tactile sensitive than the rest of their plating. Slowly she stepped forwards and put her hand on a transformation seam on his hood, giving it a gentle pat. “You doing alright?”

 

Ratchet didn’t respond immediately. His chassis settled somewhat as she continued to pat him, the seams opening up a little. June was reminded of someone relaxing under a massage. He finally asked her, “What do you mean?”

 

“I mean are you doing alright? Your friends are gone, your uh…” she didn’t want to say boyfriend without confirmation of their rather confusing alien gender and dating structure regardless of whether or not she had her suspicions. “...Optimus isn’t here. They’re all on the other planet.”

 

“I’m aware.” He sounded more tired and sad than curt. 

 

“You miss them?” She let her hand drop from his hood. Her feet still hurt from work but if an alien ambulance needed to have an emotional talk then she guessed she could give it. 

 

He sighed “You look tired, you don’t need to bother yourself with this. I didn’t even intend to overstay, my chronometer just shut itself off again so I didn’t wake up.”

 

He was avoiding the question. She laughed, “You’re not overstaying. Ratchet we’re friends. If you need to stay here you can. I would have preferred if you asked, but it’s not a problem.”

 

The drivers side door opened after a moment. Ratchet grumbled something that maybe sounded like a “thank you.” and then more clearly, “If we’re going to talk you may as well sit down. My scans indicate you’re physically exhausted.”

 

She gave a pause to being scanned without her permission but assumed it was just him doing what he does. She decided not to press it and, for the first time, climbed inside. “This isn’t weird for you is it? I think it would be weird to have someone inside you like this.”

 

“Not really.” He gave a small laugh, “I understand being a non-capacitative species you’re probably not used to the idea but It’s not weird. I’m built for it.”

 

She nodded and settled into the seat. His engine thrummed gently beneath her as she leaned forwards, resting her arms on his steering wheel, “So really though, what’s eating you? I can tell something’s up.”

 

“I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not...usually the type of person for these kinds of talks.”

 

June tried to stifle her laugh. “That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.”

 

“I guess I...do miss them.”

 

“Your team?”

 

“Yes, my team. Your human word that Optimus liked to use, the concept of family, I always thought it was silly while he was using it, but now-” he trailed off for a moment, “-I think maybe he was right in a sense.”

 

June rubbed a gentle hand over the steering wheel. “So why don’t you go to them?”

 

“As much as I would like to now, someone really should be staying on Earth to keep watch. This planet has been a significant turning point in our war, and even though Megatron may be dead, we can’t risk it falling into control of someone who feels themselves willing to take his place at the head of a reformed Decepticon army.”

 

June leaned back in the seat, crossing her arms. Honestly this felt like the same talks she had with some of her coworkers about their personal lives. Deborah’s getting a divorce, Shelly’s parents are selling their house, Hyeon’s kid skipped school again, and Ratchet misses his friends. June sighed gently, giving the seat a gentle pat. “But you regret being that watchman, don’t you?”

 

Ratchet didn’t reply for a while. His engine thrummed gently and a soft, “Yes.” Came from his vents.

 

“You should go visit. If nothing else just go for a few hours.”

 

“And if something happens?”

 

“Ratchet.” June pulled out her mom voice. He was going to get the same big girl talk as the rest of her friends. “I don’t know what kind of baggage you’re carrying, but I get it. I don’t know why you stayed or what you’re trying to prove but we both know it isn’t because you’re trying to protect humanity.”

 

Ratchet didn’t answer.

 

June continued, “I can’t speak about what I don’t know. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a planet. I lost my home town recently though, my home, my life I had built up there. It’s gone. Several the friends I had made there are dead because of the Decepticons. I don’t know what you’re going through but I think, at least, if nothing else, I think I understand what you’re feeling.”

 

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

 

“And that’s fine. What I’m saying is that you should go see your family. Go see them.”

 

Ratchet was quiet again. June was starting to get uneasy about the silence, afraid she had overstepped her bounds when Ratchet spoke again. “I’m more worried they won’t want to see me.”

 

June almost couldn’t believe she was having a one on one girl talk with a sentient ambulance expressing their relationship anxiety. “Ratchet. I just.” She put her hand on his dash, “I can’t tell you for sure, but judging at least by what little I saw of your interactions, they will want to see you. You’re their friend. If nothing else, certainly Optimus will probably want to see you.”

 

The lights beneath her hand glowed slightly brighter at that, filling the cabin with a soft red orange tint. Her suspicions about the nature of their relationship may have been more true than she thought. She wouldn’t delve into it, knowing that she likely wouldn’t understand their interpersonal social structures, but there was some sort of love there between them. Whether it was simply strong friendship or more of what she suspected between them, she had no desire to find out. 

 

“I think I’ll call first.” Ratchet replied. 

 

So far this was actually turning out to be one of the easier talks June had to have recently. She wouldn’t admit she was mildly upset didn’t need to get out margaritas for it. Maybe she’d make one anyway. “Are we settled then? You good?” She opened the door and got out. “I still have things I need to get done before Jack comes home.”

 

“Oh, I’ve kept you, my chronometer is still turned off I’m sorry.”

 

She laughed and picked up her bag from the floor, slinging it over her shoulder, “Ratchet it’s fine, really. You can even go back to sleep if you want. I’ll just leave a note for Jack to park the car in the garage when he gets here. You don’t have to be a stranger.”

 

“I should return. I didn’t intend on staying this long anyway but” he made a sound like he was clearing his throat, a strange mannerism picked up from the humans. “Thank you.”

 

“Hey, no problem. Trust me when I say a homesick robot is one of the easier things I’ve dealt with this week.”


End file.
